Wednesday, 16 April 2008

Pombagira/Lesbian, Manchester Star and Garter, 15th April 2008

Last night Thee Claw travelled to Manchester to catch the latest stop on a tour by two bands that are (were) new to us: Lesbian from Seattle, and Old London Town's very own Pombagira.Actually, there were three bands playing that we'd not heard but I'm trying to forget the first band, Lathe Spirit or something, who buy their shirts exclusively from the Southern Lord webstore, with the exception of the drummer who had on a Burzum shirt and eyeliner. As I walked out after ninety seconds of the first song I could hear the sound of Varg Vikernes digging himself a grave so he could spin in it.Don't worry lads; even Hellhammer got a one K review back in the day, so you're in good company. Before I forget, here's your very own solitary K.

Next up where Pombagira, whose vocalist/guitarist Pete explained that the set tonight will have to be instrumental because he has a sore throat.Given the fact that only about 15 people had bothered to turn out for this show (quite a few of them were the parents of the first band) I don't blame him for wanting to keep his voice for a bigger audience.

We are then treated to a totally instrumental set of total UK sludge, and it's very, very impressive. I love the fact that the type of music Pombagira are playing has the ability to make you lose track of time; it draws me in until I don't know whether I've been listening to it for a few minutes or a few hours.Comparisons are lazy; but they're bound to happen, think Ramesses/Electric Wizard style filth, huge riffs and syncopated drumming with roving basslines.When they finish their one-track half hour-ish set, I'm already making a mental note to go and see them again, because they must be fucking amazing with vocals if they are this good without them!

Closing the show are Lesbian from Seattle.

Lesbian are impossible to pigeonhole, in fact when I got in last night I destroyed any pigeonholes I had around the house and made a big box with "Lesbian" written over the top, and slung all my CDs inside it, and now my girlfriend thinks I'm on PCP.Seriously though, I didn't know what was coming next with this band; there's Neurosis-style riffing and then it would break into black metal style blastbeats, and there were a few songs at the end with double-kick action, slow doomy riffs that made me think of demo-era Paradise Lost. Nice use of the Bill Hicks sample too guys.They totally blew me away to be honest, big kudos to promoters Wot God Forgot for getting these two to play in Manchester, I'm so glad we went, a shame nobody else could be bothered.

And is flannel really the National Dress of Seattle?Links: Lesbian (Myspace)Pombagira (Myspace)Wot God Forgot (Promoter)

1 comment:

Thee Boys:

THEE CLAW: SJW, Skum & Thee Patchie

Thee What?

Thee Claw started in 2006, and began as our excuse to listen to as much music as possible, see as many bands as possible, and travel as much as possible.

So what we plan to give you here is lists of upcoming gigs, reviews, photos and videos from gigs we've been to, and mentions of whatever musical releases are floating our boats at any given time. An all-purpose metal zine for the discerning music fan!

We used to post claw-based posts sporadically on our own seperate blogs, but after the awesome tour of 2007 decided to bring it all together in one place, and we hope you enjoy it.

Want a review? Get in touch with us here, and we'll get along or give your demo a spin.

Thee Fucking Claw is a philosophical movement created to make things 1000% cooler. It demands a constant stream of goals such as high-rate gig attendance, plenty of new music to listen to & lots of traveling.

Everyone has their own Claw, you just have to know how to tune into it.